


The Other Sister

by heathenseyes



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:50:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16072040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heathenseyes/pseuds/heathenseyes
Summary: Summary: The Goa'uld threat is spreading rapidly, feeling a bit outgunned, SGC starts looking to increase it defenses from home. The Initiative is willing to drop a name for a price; but what happens when it is Sam's sister? The one that had been talking about vampires, that she had to leave in an mental institute years ago? The same sister Sam thought was dead.





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of SG1 or of BtVS. This is an older story that I am bringing over from TTHM and working on finishing. I don't have a beta. Sorry in advance.

~-~

Kawalsky leaned back in his chair, laughing at the thunderstruck expression on his friend's face. 

"I did what?" Two air men that had been walking past shot the Colonel startled glances at his incredulous tone.

The major smirked. 

"Oh yeah; General Orlando never even knew who flew them on the flag pole. It was there half a day just waving in the wind outside of his office. Hell, he threatened the entire base with a court martial if no one came forward. Two weeks later he was transferred." 

Jack shook his head. He remembered thinking about it, sure, and who hadn't? The general had been an ass in more than one way. But he'd never acted on the impulse, even after he had learned about the heart-spotted boxers that the general was rumored to have owned. 

Great! 

His alternate from the other reality had not only been happily married, but he'd also flown a General's undies on a flag pole. Damn, he'd have to top that somehow. 

"I recognize that gleam," Kawalsky said, a hint of a smile on his face. The Major burst out with a loud laugh at the 'who, me?' look that Jack gave him, nearly tipping back his chair.

"So what about you, Kawalsky? What happened?" Jack had almost called him Charlie, just barely himself. For a moment the Colonel had to remind himself that his Charlie, the man after whom he had named his own son was dead, and even though this was Charles Kawalsky, it wasn't Charlie Kawalsky. 

The remembered realization hurt, even more than he would ever be willing to admit. Just another person the Colonel had failed to save and the man sitting in front of him was another bitter sweet reminder of the friend he had lost. 

A little voice in Jack's head calmly pointed out that this wasn't Charlie, that it was a double from another reality. This was a man Jack didn't know even though he felt as though he did, and Jack shouldn't let himself get to caught up because it would be like losing Charlie all over again when they finally figured out a way to send the wayward travelers some where safe. Jack, however, had never been really good at doing the smart thing, and luckily, Jack was really good at ignoring the little voices in his head. 

After all, it was the same little voice, more then a little prudish, that had been the reason he hadn't flown those boxers in the first place in his own reality. Slapping a smile on his face, Jack focused on Kawalsky's face, and watched as a shadow passed over his friend's face, the infectious smile Jack had remembered so well faltering, and Jack regretted the question. "Listen, you don't have to--"

Kawalsky shook his head. "No, it's okay. I got engaged. About four years ago. To a cheerleader, if you can believe it."

"A cheerleader?!?"

"Yeah, a cheerleader. Well, she was one in high school, anyway. I met her the summer she came and visited Sammy and... her husband. It was love at first sight. She was...incredible."

Kawalsky fell silent, his eyes darkening with the memories.

"She died less then a year after we were married, exactly fourteen months after we had met. It was before the damn snakes even started attacking. She and her wh-partner were attacked coming back from a...a stakeout and...things got bad. They had been left for dead in some alley. I hadn't even known she had been injured until I reached the hospital. Didn't know any of the particulars because I had been on a mission, out of communication for two days, while two SG teams had been tearing the planet apart looking for me. I was just told there had been an emergency and that she had been injured. No body wanted to talk about it. Even the General on the ride to the hospital, it was like by admitting how bad she had been injured every one would have had to admit that she might not be able to bounce back." Jack shifted in his chair, not sure what to do or say. He'd never been good at comforting. Or loss. The handling of his own losses were evidence of that. So he just sat, silently listening. Giving Kawalsky a chance to share his grief like his best friend would.

"By the time I got to the hospital, her partner had died and she had been nearly bled dry. Nothing the doctors were saying seemed to make sense. I couldn't even believe that there was a possibility she wouldn't be able to recover. They just kept saying the damage was just too bad and there was nothing more they could do." Kawalsky stopped, unshed tears gathering in his eyes. Jack remained quiet, watching as the other man shut his eyes, his throat moving as he fought against his emotions. They remained in silence for several moments until the Major finally opened his eyes, the pain lessened, but still shining brightly from the brown depths. "I'd always expected me to be the one who died first. I'd never thought she'd leave me behind instead, she was even better than yo-than General O'Neill about getting out of tight spots. Samantha had been with Beth since she came out of surgery. And I remember the moment I saw Sammy, saw the grief already so heavy around her that it was all true. That there was nothing more to do. She told me Beth had been askin' for me. Said she was just holdin' on. They hadn't even told her that Merrick was dead, they were too afraid that she would die right then and there. She was hooked up to so many damned machines. But she woke up when I picked up her hand, she smiled at me, and then she died. I would've lost it, if it hadn't been for you and Sammy." 

Jack heard the slip as the man said 'you' and not the General or John and his heart squeezed painfully. "She was a cop?" He asked softly. 

Kawalsky smiled sadly. "Yeah, buddy, something like that."

Straightening up, Kawalsky leaned onto the table top, worry etching his face. "Sammy's gonna be okay, right? I mean, once they figure something out? I know what the doc said, but still..."

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. Between the two of them, I'm sure they will come up with something." There was a pause as Jack was trying to figure out how to ask the next question. "You really care for her, don't you? You never even really knew her in this reality." 

"Yeah, she's the only thing I have left of Beth."

Jack raised an eyebrow at the statement, not quite able to link the two together. 

"Beth," Kawalsky prompted, raising his own eye brow when Jack remained perplexed, "I promised her before she died that I'd always take care of her sister. It's the one promise that I intend to keep."

"Sister? You mean Carter had a sister?"

Kawalsky looked a little surprised at the question. "Well, yeah; it was always a joke between us, about the two of them marrying into the military. Huh, I guess she didn't exist in this reality. Too bad, Jack, you would have loved her." 

Jack smiled, and turned the conversation to happier memories, nodding when Kawalsky's smile turned grateful at the change of topics. Jack understood how even time couldn't lessen some pains. 

The two continued to talk for hours, catching up on a lifetime that they hadn't shared, each pretending that it was their old friend who was sitting before them. Each one pretending that, for the night, their ghosts didn't exist. Remembering happier times that seemed -- now, more then ever -- to be so far away. 

~-~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still own nothing of SG1 or of BtVS_FYI
> 
> Notes: Buffy's death mentioned above was from the Gift. Giles is the only one that knew about Buffy's real family and he kept her secret, only notifying Sam of her sister's death and nothing more. Set after Chosen on BtVS and two days after Point of View on SG1.

~-~

Sam stared at her reflection, searching for a hint of the person that her duplicate was.

Nope. Nothing. Same old, same old. Great.

"Sam?" Carter whirled around to see Daniel standing at her door. She hadn't even heard him knock. "Sorry to bother you, but I saw your light on and the door was open. Thought you might want to talk," Daniel stopped at the look in his friend's eyes, her expression one that he was very familiar with. It was the same expression that he had seen in the mirror for the past three years each morning when he reminded himself that Shar'ee was no longer there. That a part of his heart and soul was no longer present. "Are you ok?"

Smiling Sam put down the cold cloth she was holding and stepped out of the bathroom and towards the archaeologist that stood in her doorway. She sighed softly and the smile seemed to melt from her face. 

"No, not really."

"You want to talk about it?" The archaeologist asked as he took a step into her room. 

"Got a couple of hours?" 

"Yeah, actually, I do." Sam looked at her friend for a moment before sitting on her bed. Daniel closed the door behind him and carefully sat beside her. "So…?"

"There are a couple of things that I've never talked to any of you about, things that I guess I thought I should be ashamed of." Jackson looked at Carter with interest; knowing how difficult it was for her to talk about her past. "You see, I had a sister, she'd have been… God, I don't know, about twenty three now. She had… well, she'd always been kind of different. After mom died, I didn't know what to do with her and neither did dad. She ended up in some...trouble and I abandoned her when she really needed someone to believe in her. I left her in an institution because I couldn't handle it. Some kind of sister, huh? Talking to Samantha earlier…” Sam stopped and looked at her hand, at the small scar on her palm, “I started wondering what would have happened if I had done things differently. If she would still be alive."

"How did she die?" 

"I don't know. Three years ago I got a letter in the mail. Some guy who I'd never even heard about, a Mr. Giles of Sunnydale. The letter only said that she had passed away. Just that she had died and that I should be proud of her. That’s it…nothing more. No reason why, or how, or anything. He didn't even tell me when the funeral was, I guess he didn’t think I deserved to be there."

"Sam, I’m so sorry," he started, his hand softly settling on her shoulder, but she shook off his comforting hand. 

"I didn't even know she was in Sunnydale, I thought that she was still in Los Angeles." Sam ground out, her hands clenching into fists. "After I got the letter, I tried to reach Aunt Joyce only to find out that she had died earlier that year. I never even knew. Buffy never called to tell me. I know she must have been mad at me when I had left her in there but I thought it was for the best!" Sam shot off of the bed and began pacing, her eyes becoming distant as she remembered the pained hazel eyes that had started at her through the cell window. She had tried to be there for her sister. She had. "She was talking about demons and vampires! She was claiming to be something called the Slayer. She burned down the gym of her school! Thirty people were injured and three died. I just couldn't handle that. I didn't know how and I honestly thought she'd be better in there, where people could help her. It wasn't even for another three months when I returned that I found out Aunt Joyce had taken her out of there a week after I had visited her. I tried to talk to her then." Sam's steps faltered, her shoulders slumping as though the strength had suddenly fled from her, and she stepped back towards her bed, wearily dropping onto the mattress beside Daniel. "I even tried to go through my Uncle Hank, he at least had a number for them. Do you know what she said? She said I wasn’t her family any more, to leave her alone.” Anguish filled Sam’s eyes. “And I did. I left her alone. I was so mad at her for just turning me away, for not understanding that I had done what I had thought was best for her, that I didn't even try to explain. I never even knew my sister." Sam's hand bunched in her lap, wringing together as she fought with the guilt that even after three years, still reverberated through her when she allowed herself to remember. "I did try to find out everything about her after I found out about her death. I looked her files up, trying to find out what happened. There was nothing."

"You mean that there was no mention of how she died?" Daniel asked, a frown of confusion on his face. 

"No. There was nothing. Her life after fifteen wasn't there. I don't know what kind of life she had and I'll never know. It's driving me crazy. Was she happy? Was she married? Was she dating someone? What happened to my SISTER?" The last word was shouted and Sam began crying. Daniel drew her to him and tried to comfort her as best he could. Three years of pent up grief flowed our of her finally breaking free; she sobbing until the tears would no longer come.

Daniel remained silent, gently cradling Sam as she let go of her grief. Remembering all too well how he had once wandered the halls of the mountain base after returning from Abydos, aimlessly roaming without knowing where to go or what to do until Jack had found him and taken him home. Long minutes ticked by, Sam's sobs slowing and then eventually stilling. Drawing away, Sam offered Daniel a watery smile. 

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to unload on you. It's just...I talked to Samantha and we started talking about the differences between us." Sam took in a shaky breath, recalling all too vividly the look her alternate self had aimed at her when Sam had told her that she hadn't taken Buffy. That she had left her in that place. She hadn't even been able to choke out anything more than that Aunt Joyce had taken Buffy out shortly after and taken her to California. It was hard enough second guessing her own actions. She hadn't wanted to see the same recrimination in Samantha's eyes. "Turns out she never joined the military so that she could take care of her sister. Lizzie Kawalsky, who died at the age of twenty-one with her sister and her husband by her hospital bed. It's...I just wonder how things would have been. I wonder if she died all alone, if at the end of her life she died thinking that she was alone and there was no reason to keep on going." 

There was nothing that Jackson could say and for a long time after the two sat only in silence, Daniel lending as much comfort to his friend as possible, and Sam remained lost in her own thoughts of what might have been.

~-~


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nada of either the SG or Buffy verses.

~-~

The burly bounty hunter, Aris Boch, smiled wryly at the people before him. "I thought we were on the same side. I gave Carter a sample of the roshnah so that she could find a way for us to be free of the Goa'uld drug."

"Sure we are," Jack rocked on his heels, "but you did shoot Carter...." One hand rested negligently on the butt of his P-90 as he spoke, the distrust of the other man evident in his eyes.

"For some reason I have the feeling that you all don't really trust me still."

"Gee, I don't see why you would feel that," sarcasm dripped from Jack's honeyed tone as he began ticking off reasons with one hand, "though, it could possibly have to do with that whole trapping us thing, then almost blowing up part of my team, shooting Carter-"

"Hey, I only stunned the capt-" at the look that Carter shot the hunter, Boch quickly corrected his statement, "Major, I mean." 

"Shut up, I'm monologuing," the colonel frowned, "where was I... oh, yeah, shooting Carter, recapturing us, which I knew you were going to do so you can't even say that it's because you’re such a great blah blah blah, and you having been a pain in my ass today. No to mention that you blew up the U.A.V., which was the reason we originally had to come out here, and, my personal favorite, let's not forget that you have been working for the Goa'uld for several years."

"So?"

"No. Boch, we're being all nice and letting you use the gate first to go where ever you were thinking about going to. Granted the decision could have something to do with the fact, and I'm sure that Korra would be happy to agree, that we would rather you didn't see the addresses we plan on dialing," the hunter didn't make a move towards the dial and stood smiling at the glare Jack directed towards him. "Go on, scoot." 

Jack made shoeing motions with his hands and Boch's smile widened. He was tired of the Goa'uld employed bounty hunter and the itch he felt between his shoulders blades around the other man.

Stepping forwards Boch dialed the address and the group watched him warily as he walked towards the glowing orifice. He stopped just before the gate and turned back to his watchers. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again. Major Carter, I hope you have some good news for me when we do." With that he waved and stepped through the gate.

"Okay, kiddies, are we all ready? Yes? Good." Stepping forwards Jack had made it five feet from the dialing device before he stopped and swore. "Damn it, we forgot about the memory chip!" Turning back to his team he found Carter already starting back up their earlier trail.

"I've got it, sir." Carter said.

"I shall accompany MajorCarter, O'Neill, I find myself needing some, as I believe you would say, fresh air."

As the Jaffa left, Jack shook his head. "We should tell him that the whole fresh air thing doesn't really work when you’re outside...in the fresh air," he said to no one in particular and turned towards the Tok'ra. Jack raised a questioning eyebrow as he noticed the man leaning again a near by tree. "Hey there Korra, you're lookin' kinda green around the gills. You hanging in there ok?"

"I am well, Colonel O'Neill, but shall rest while they are gone." The dark man's head dropped in exhaustion and his eyes fluttered closed.

Jack regarded him for several moments before looking at Daniel. "I think we’ll just let him nap."

Daniel sighed as he kneeled down and took out the notebook from his backpack, jotting down a couple of notes about what Boch and Korra had said about the bounty hunter's people. An entire race resistant to Goa'uld blending; incredible. 

An hour later, Daniel was still kneeling on the ground. Taking notes down about the hunter's enhanced physiology made him think about what Sam had spoken to him about nearly a month ago. 

Sam has a sister, a sister who had claimed to be a Slayer. 

He couldn't quite place why the name bugged him so much, why it kept pulling at his memory. His notebook was gripped loosely in one hand while in his other hand the pen that he was holding stood in danger of falling. His eyes unfocused as he stared into the depths of the forest while he made an attempt to organize his thoughts. They were a rather jumbled mess with only one actual focused thought; the Slayer. Where had he heard it before? The Slayer, the Slayer, the- 

"Slayer," the word was whispered so softly that Jack paused mid-poke, his finger hovering inches away from the distracted archaeologist's shoulder. Even though the Colonel was less then a foot away from the younger man the word had been spoken so quietly that he had almost missed it. Almost would have said the younger man had simply sighed; almost.

"Kill who?" The question broke Daniel out of his reverie. Shooting startled look at Jack, Jackson hurriedly pushed his notebook into the pack and stood, making an attempt at nonchalance as he dusted the dirt from his hands. 

Daniel hadn't been aware that he had even said the word aloud. The word... the name... the Slayer. He ground his teeth in frustration. Since a month ago, when Sam had confided the small tidbit about her past, Daniel had made numerous attempts to research the name and each time he hadn’t been able too for one reason or another. Had he been religious, he would have said that something was trying to stop him. But, since he wasn’t religious, he wasn’t even going to think it. Yeah, sure. 

"Come on, Danny," Jack prompted. The Colonel had been disgruntled to find out that Danny had been ignoring him while he had spoken to him about fishing and fishing baits when he had first noticed that Daniel wasn't longer paying attention to him, or at least more then normal when ever he talked about fishing. The archeologist off in his own little la-la land once again. However, it was the first time that the Space Monkey had suddenly started talking about killing people while in la-la land and had been unsettling to say the least. "Kill who?"

"What?" Daniel was making an attempt to ignore the Colonel and scanned the trees for signs of Teal'c and Carter. 

"You said slay her."

"What are you talking about, Jack? I didn't say anything." Sweat had started beading Daniel's brow and he could feel it trickle down his back as his nervousness increased, this was really the last conversation he wanted to have with Jack, especially when Sam could show up at any moment. What she had mentioned her sister calling herself, the Slayer, had been nagging at the back of his mind, and he was itching to find out why. However, Jackson found himself incredibly unwilling to tell the Major that he was pretty certain that he had read something about a mythical being before, one called by that very name, and especially not when it might mean that the poor girl hadn't been insane. Daniel really didn't think that Sam could handle that, or at least, not right now. 

"Yeah, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Yep."

"No."

"Uh-huh."

"Jack..."

"You did," Jack shook his head in disagreement, having the air of a man who, for once, was entirely in the right. 

Daniel looked frantically around, he swore he could hear footsteps, glancing at his watch his eyes widened and he breathed out in relief. 

Jack shot him a look, but, continued. “You said sla-"

"Wow, look at the time, if we don't hurry up, you'll miss the Simpson’s."

"Who cares about the..." Jacks words trailed as realization set in. Taking a look at his own watch he swore as the alarm chose that moment to chime. "Damn it, I'm supposed to be making popcorn right now. Where the hell are Carter and Teal'c?"

He looked around, scanning the foliage for a sign of the missing team mates. 

"Knew I should have gone with her, she's probably found some plant that she has to just have a sample of... Oh, God, she's probably cataloging something right now!" Daniel fought to hide the smile tugging at his lips at the worry he heard in his friend's voice. 

Apparently, the archaeologist hadn't done a good enough job of distracting Jack though as the Colonel turned back towards him and glared at the younger man. 

For his part, Jackson did his best to look innocent, and failed miserably. 

"Danny boy, you have to have a lot more practice before I fall for that 'I don't know what you're talking about' look." Glancing away Jack scanned the line of trees surrounding them, smiling as he saw Teal'c and Carter. O’Neill shot an amused look at the younger man. "And don’t even try the puppy dog eyes or the innocent look. I'm not forgetting about this, you just have a temporary reprieve."

"A reprieve from what?" Sam asked catching the tail end of his sentence, in her hands there was a small memory chip, nearly the size of her palm, looking incredibly charred.

"Six hours for to retrieve a frickin' piece of plastic." The colonel groused, glaring at the burnt data chip. 

"Sir, the engineer said-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what the geeks, no offense Carter, said. Hammond told me before sending us on this little jaunt. Get the memory chips and they can make the U.A.V.'s better, they can make them stronger, and for only 4.95 in shipping and a forty thousand monthly payments of 12.95, you too can own a flying thingy that goes all klabowie when hit close range by a missile."

"Well, sir, it's not a total waste. We did meet Boch." Sam said optimistically.

"And we saved a Tok'ra." Added Daniel, happy for the diversion.

"Yeah, great. We meet a bounty hunter who was intelligent enough to destroy the U.A.V. to lure us here in order to use us to capture another Goa'uld, who was actually a Tok'ra agent, and then Teal'c gives himself up to take the Tok'ra's place. No offense, Korra, I'm sure that your a great guy and all, but, I'm exactly to pleased about almost losing a member of my team because Sokar wanted you."

"I take no offense, Colonel O'Neill, and thank you and your team for rescuing me."

"So, what brought you out all this way anyhow?"

"I am unsure of whether I am allowed to speak of it." Korra's eyes flickered towards the sky and he absently rubbed at a small scar on his arm; Jack rather thought he appeared a mite nervous, though whether it was over being almost turned over to Sokar or sharing the information the Tok'ra had learned, the Colonel couldn't tell.

O'Neill threw his arm around the taller man and smiled broadly, when ever in doubt... think of something really quick. "Oh, don't worry; I'm sure that when we get back to the SGC that you can share all the gritty details with us before you head back home. After all, you have a lot of injuries and it would only be neighborly and all if good old doc Frasier took a look at you, which means that you'll have plenty of time to talk to me."

They began making their way back towards the gate when Sam remembered that her question hadn't been answered. 

"So, what did we miss?"

“Oh, nothing much, just Danny talking ‘bout death and dismemberment. You know just another apocalyptic Tuesday.” Jack said as he started walking towards the gate. He had made it several steps before he realized that no one was behind him. “What?”

“You said apocalyptic.” The shock was evident in Daniel’s voice, the feeling reflected in Sam’s surprised brown eyes.

Jack gave a long suffering sigh. “Yes, I know some big words, no, I don’t just sit around and watch T.V all day and now, I would like if you all could get moving so I don’t miss the Simpson’s.” With the remark, Jack turned with out another word and walked off, disappearing through the brush that led to the gate. 

“Danny?!?” Came an impatient shout a moment later. “Will you hurry up and dial the damn thing!” 

There was a moment of silence and Daniel started mentally counting down in his head; five, four, three, two, one…

“Daniel!”

“And there he goes.” Carter said, smiling. 

Daniel looked over at Carter who was looking at a small vial in her hands. “Hey, isn’t that…”

“Yes. It’s incredible,” Sam said as she held the small vial aloft, in the fading light the liquid contents gave of a soft blue nimbus. “Boch’s race is entirely humanoid in appearance, but completely resistant to symbiosis with the Goa’uld. God, what I would give to find out how they differ from us and what makes them incompatible to the Goa’uld physiology.” 

“Well jeez, Carter, would you like us to go back and see if we find Boch out and can him knock out, perhaps you could dissect him real quick.” O’Neill said as he stood before them, tapping his foot as the two trailing figures drew closer. Teal’c already standing a safe distance from the gate, evidently ready to leave as well. 

“Sir, they are completely inhospitable for the Goa’uld as hosts-“

“I’ll break out a flag. Come on people, let’s get a move on.” The colonel tightened the straps on his pack and looked expectantly and the archaeologist. “Gonna dial that thing up any time soon?” 

Jackson rolled his eyes but started dialing in the sequence, ignoring Jack who was leaned over and looking over Daniel’s shoulder as he punched the symbols in. 

“Jack,” he finally said, stepping back and causing the colonel to stumble back, “I’m not dialing it if you keep looking over my shoulder.”

The blond man shot him and innocent look and Daniel sighed as he entered the last symbol. Jack had been right, he was going to have to practice that look some more, he hadn’t mastered it nearly as well as O’Neill.

~-~


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: After leaving her sister in a mental institution years ago, Sam Carter had thought she had gotten over Elizabeth Summers untimely death three years ago. But, when Carter's alternate self from another reality comes through the Quantum Mirror she hears that Dr. Samantha Carter's ( "I prefer Samantha, thanks") sister, though having died at a young age, had a wonderful life, a loving husband, and a supportive sister. The incident leaves Carter wondering, had she not abandoned her own sister, would the young woman still be alive? Or, at the very least, would she have died knowing that her sister had loved her? But, is her sister really as dead as she believes? Nah. After all, what would have happened if no one had informed Sam that her sister had been brought back to life a year after her death? And now with the Goa'uld inching closer and closer, secrets and misconceptions are ready to be brought into the light, whether any one wants them to be or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own anything.
> 
> This is an older story I posted on TTHM and am trying to finish up and bringing over. I have no beta. Sorry in advance.

~-~

Across the galaxy, heedless of the possibility of aliens bent on world domination, with the possible exception of Andrew, one very paranoid young man who the others tended to ignore, and in a very large and noisy house, a girl stood amidst a pile a discarded packing paper, empty boxes, and torn tape. 

Early in the fight against the first, as people began to flood out of Sunny dale, it was proposed by Giles that perhaps, just perhaps, several houses and buildings could be destroyed during the upcoming battle. After all, no one had ever gone against the first evil and no one was sure what quite the ramifications of winning the battle would be. Though they were all very aware that losing the fight meant that humanity was extinct. Plus, the bringers had attacked the house so often that there was no telling whether the Summers’ residence would be able to withstand another attack. 

In the mad dash to prepare for the fledging Slayerettes, the Scooby gang had gathered their most precious belongings and sent them all to Angel and the Fang Gang. 

Every one smiled and said it was ‘just in case’, no one wanting to believe that everything they had could be destroyed, but one thing the Hellmouth had taught it’s residences was to be always prepared. And following the destruction of Sunnydale, no one had been able to think beyond the fact that their home was destroyed and now they needed their stuff, the only visible links to a past that they had literally buried underneath several tons of rubble. 

Upon arrival in L.A., Lorne had been the one to suggest that the bedraggled survivors remain in Angel’s now unused hotel, the place where Angel Investigations had once been operated from, and think of their next move. 

Two weeks after they had arrived every one was ready to move on, disturbed not only by Angel’s distance, but also his group's reluctance to discuss what was going on at Evil Inc.; granted the reason they told them about their abrupt departure was that they all desired to have their own home again. 

Packed with only the belongings they had shipped months ago, the survivors traveled to Cleveland, setting up operations in an abandoned and very dilapidated mansion. 

When the group had first walked into the mansion, before they even had a real idea about the kind of place they really wanted, piles of dust had accumulated over years of disuse, rather large and intimidating webs hung from the ceiling, and the first step Giles had taken up the stair case, his foot had gone through the rotten wood. Every one had been vehemently against the acquisition until Xander had spoken for the first time since they had walked through the once grand entrance. Xander’s first words had been that he could fix it up in a jiffy and no one had wanted to tell him no; the young man needing something to do so badly now that Anya was dead. After the simple statement Xander began to walk away, talking about plans for the building and one pleading look later from Dawn had Buffy and Giles caving in right then, both telling Kennedy to shut up when she voiced her dislike of the ‘dump’, as she called it. And, thus, had the growing group found their new home, a very large and beautiful building after months of work which could house both the current and any newly activated Slayers, the Scooby Gang, the newly reformed Watcher’s Council, and most recently a blond vampire, and a very musical, very green demon. 

However, although they had moved with all of their possessions from L.A., no one had really turned their attentions to unpacking, not with renovations, purchasing furniture, reforming the Council, and training the new girls needing to be done. 

Which is why Dawn Summers now stood nearly buried in discarded packing paper and cardboard, grinning happily at the lone box that sat before her. 

After seven months she was down to one box. 

One little box. 

One measely little box. 

She was so gonna take it down...or unpack it. Whatever.

"I am the ma-woman!" 

"Oh, really? I would have said twerp." Buffy stood in the doorway, smiling from at her younger sister as she leaned against the door frame.

Dawn stuck her tongue out and expertly tossed her hair, hmphing at the petite blonde.

"Ok, gotta make a note to make sure you spend a lot less time with Lorne, he's rubbing off on you." Rolling her eyes, Buffy walked in and hopped up to sit beside the box that her sister was about to open. Buffy remembered the vivacious and vibrantly dressed demon from the two weeks they had spent with Angel as her little party readied for their next move and the demon who showed up on their doorstep two months later looked nothing like the Lorne that she had watched old movies and gone shopping with, but, she was happy that he was at last coming out of his shell and beginning to smile again. “Speaking of the big green, I thought he was in here with you.” 

“Nope, Lorne said he needed to do some thinking and Spike took him out to a bar.” Dawn smiled at the thought, there were unlikelier friends then Spike and Lorne, and the two had bonded quickly after the show down in Los Angeles when the two showed up at the Scoobies new house within a day of each other; granted a great deal of it had been over a sincere dislike of Angel.

“I just hope Spike didn’t take him to a karaoke bar again. I am so not going to pick them up this time.” Leaning over, Buffy tapped on the box beside her, feeling slightly guilty that Dawn had been the one to unpack most of their belongings. "So, that's the last one, huh?"

"Yep. One more and we'll be moved in."

"Moved in? Boy, you sure could've fooled me these past seven months since we settled in Cleveland’s Hell Mouth,” the blonde said sarcastically.

"They don’t officially count though, two of those months we were looking for somewhere to live, and since then every one has been so busy with the restructuring of the watcher’s council and training the new slayers, we haven’t even been able to actually work on unpacking everything and making this place…well, home.” Dawn’s eyes briefly flitted over to Buffy who had quirked an inquiring eyebrow. “You know what I mean; remember when we moved from Los Angeles?" Dawn asked. "It took almost three months to unpack everything and mom always said-"

"That home isn't home until the last box is unpacked," Buffy finished, smiling softly at the memory. 

"Yep. Ah-ha." Dawn held the knife up exultantly but the smile faded from her face. Buffy hoped down and looped an arm around her sister's waist. 

"What's wrong? Dawn?"

"You remember that night we finally put out the last box?" Buffy nodded, she did remember, only she had two sets of the memory, one with and one without her sister. "Mom made us come downstairs, we weren't talking right then, I had read your diary and you were mucho mad at me, but mom said we had to get over it because we were sisters and were stuck together. She brought it out and said it was the very last one and then we all opened it up; it had all the pictures. A ton of mom and dad and she spent hours telling the stories behind most of them. She said that we were finally home," Dawn looked as her sister, the green eyes troubled, "I remember her telling you that it was our final move; that we were home." Dawn fell silent again and Buffy hugged the tall girl.

"Well, we're home now."

"We're going to move again aren't we?" Dawn asked, staring intently at her sister, searching for an answer that Buffy was unsure of herself.

Buffy drew back, looking at her sister with equally troubled eyes. "Why do you say that?" She asked, trying to evade from giving an answer she really didn't have. 

"I don't know. It's just a feeling I get some times. You're always looking out the window when you think we aren't paying attention. You haven't... you haven't been the same since... since that night." Dawn looked down at the floor, avoiding her sister’s probing gaze, and shrugged.

Neither sister deemed it necessary to mention which night Dawn was talking about; both knew. 

The blonde Slayer was still having difficulty mending the bonds between herself and her friends and sister. 

The memory of them turning on her hit too close to home, too close to other memories of a family Buffy had locked away. A family that had abandoned her so many years ago.

The blonde Slayer had thought that she had healed over those feelings of abandonment, she had become a new person, sealed away all of those feelings that she had tried so hard to forget, but when her second family turned away from her, all of the old pains and insecurities had resurfaced. 

When Buffy had returned with the scythe only hours after Dawn and the others had kicked the oldest Slayer out of her own house, she had told them that she never wanted the incident mentioned, and it hadn't been, but it still hung heavily between them all. 

"Dawn, look at me," Buffy gently took her sister's chin in her hand and tugged her face down, mentally rolling her eyes at the fact that her sister now towered four inches over her. "Listen to me, we are home. We are together, we're family, and nothing will keep our family apart. Nothing. We've survived demons, vampires, watchers, death, well at least I did, you hitting puberty, a hell goddess, a psycho doctor, and maniacal reporters; there's nothing that we haven't faced and kicked its ass. Nothing out there will keep us apart, and even if we do move again, we'll move together, I'm not leaving you again, I promise." 

Dawn offered a watery smiled, running a hand under beneath her nose as she sniffled. 

"Eww, tissue." Buffy said and whipped out a handkerchief. Laughing Dawn blew her nose and was about to offer the cotton cloth back before Buffy held up a hand. "Ok, I love you but you're not five any more and I don't want your boogies in my pocket. You can keep it." Laughing the brunette hugged her sister and the two stayed that way for several moments before either one moved away. 

Andrew suddenly streaked past the door at that moment shrieking Buffy's name. 

"That sounds bad." The blonde Slayer said, wincing at the high pitch of the young man's voice which remained stubbornly loud and annoying even though he had passed by the room and was headed outside. 

From above them there was a loud crash and even louder shouting. For a moment, neither heard anything.

The moment proved to be short lived and before either spoke they heard screams and several more crashes followed by another momentary pause and then the sound of heavy thuds, the final thud followed by Kennedy's angry yell as she landed at the base of the stairs on her ass. 

Faith leaped down from the stairs and the two continued fighting. Buffy looked over at her sister and they shared a weary, but, amused smile. The blonde sighed as she stood up and walked over to the door. 

"You gonna be okay?" Buffy asked, stopping at the door. Dawn smiled and nodded. 

"Yeah, I'll just start unpacking."

"Ok, I’ll break them apart and be back in a few to help you finish up okay? Then you and I will go out to celebrate without a gaggle of people"

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great."

Buffy had just stepped out of the room when her sister's voice stopped her.

"Buffy?"

"Hmm?" 

There was another loud crash, a startled shout, and then from outside the hall they heard Lauren shout. "Oh my God! They destroyed the fucking door! Hey! Buffy's gonna be mad at y'all if you don't stop!"

The Slayer wrinkled her nose at the noises coming from the front of the house. 

Yep, definitely home, nothing could be louder.

"I know we can take demons and all the supernatural baddies that the PTB throw against us, but what about aliens?" Dawn asked teasingly and Buffy shuddered at the question. 

Both remembered Andrew’s latest obsession with aliens, Area 51, government conspiracies, and how the government supposedly had some methods of traveling to others worlds.

"Yeah right, aliens don't exist. Not even the PTB would be that mean." Laughing the blonde jogged out, making her way down the hall, away from her sister, and towards the sounds of fighting. 

Sighing Dawn turned back to the waiting box and started to unpack it; still troubled by the feeling that something very big was on the way.

An hour later Buffy walked back through the door, smiling happily, with a Cheshire cat grin upon her face. 

Dawn looked up from where she was sitting on the floor, photos spread out around her. "So what happened?" 

Buffy shrugged as she sat down beside her sister, picking up a picture. 

"Oh, nothing much, same old same old. Kennedy saw Faith hug Willow, Kennedy accused Willow of sleeping with Faith, both of them denying it. Kennedy bitch slapping Faith and calling her a whore before running to Faith's room and grabbing her favorite leather pants which she proceeded to destroy. Faith finding her and tossing her out of her room. Faith knocking Kennedy down the stairs and then through the new door, some tussling, and then I doused both with the hose."

"The garden hose? That's not too bad." Dawn said with a snort.

The blonde smirked, flipping through the pictures. "No, the fire hose that Giles had them put in after the big boom that Willow caused a few months ago."

"Eww, that had to hurt."

"Yep, from their curses, I do believe so." Buffy looked at the picture in her hand. Joyce stared up at her, smiling and young, forever frozen with the carefree expression that Buffy had only rarely seen upon her mother's face. "So the last box was full of pictures. Kinda spooky."

"Tell me about it. You know though, there's some pics in here I don't recognize."

Buffy looked up interested. "Really? What?"

Dawn leaned over and picked up a photo she had placed beside her. "I mean I recognized you but I have no idea who the other...." The young woman's voice trailed off as she looked up at her sister. "Buffy? Buffy what's wrong?" Dawn asked worriedly.

Buffy’s face had paled beneath her makeup, the blush on her cheeks standing out harshly against the pale face. Her hazel eyes were wide with shock and Dawn reached over, taking a trembling hand in her own. She hadn’t seen her older sister this freaked out since the night that Buffy had returned from the dead and had to dig herself out of her own grave. The younger woman was willing to admit that Buffy’s reaction to this was… frightening. 

Buffy stood straight up, her sudden ascent causing a stack of photos by her to topple and fall. She was still clutching at the picture and heedless of the other photos that lay now scattered on the floor.

Dawn could see her sister shutting down her emotions as the hazel eyes grew glassy; hiding the feelings she was repressing as though they weren't even there. 

"They're no one." Buffy said and stood. "Listen, I got wet from the whole hosing them down thing and gotta go change and then we'll go out and celebrate the whole official moving in thing." Dawn nodded, still shocked and her sister gave her a tight smile that didn't reach the hazel eyes as she crumpled the picture, tossing it into the trash can before she hurried out. 

Dawn stared in shocked silence for several moments before carefully standing and making her way towards the trash can. Picking the crumpled photo out of the can she looked down in curiosity, seeking some idea of why it had upset her sister so much. 

Nope. 

Nothing extraordinary about it and, in all truth, it just looked like an ordinary family outing. 

A balding dark haired man and pretty blonde woman stood close to each other, their eyes happy as they looked down at the two girls and a boy who were wrestling on the ground. The boy was laying on the ground, his eyes closed, but a smile playing at his lips, and the larger blonde girl had a pretty good hold on the smaller girl who looked like she was laughing. 

Dawn recognized the smaller girl. 

Buffy still had the same look at times when she was genuinely happy and it was a look she rarely saw anymore. Carefully she put the picture in her back pocket for later. 

Given how her sister had reacted to the picture, Dawn was glad she hadn't told Buffy about the folders she had found beneath the pictures. And she wouldn't, at least not until she read them first. But first, she had to get ready to go, and then later, well, later she was going to find out who the people in the picture were. 

Some one had hurt her sister at some time, some one that Dawn had never meet, and the knowledge that Dawn didn’t recognize any one else besides Buffy worried the brunette. 

The monks had seamlessly integrated Dawn into Buffy’s past. They had actually spent a night discussing the differences, Dawn had asked Buffy for almost a month straight before the Slayer had relented, and never, not once, had her sister ever talked about any of these people. But it still wasn’t as disturbing as the fact that some one had hurt her sister. Well, some one other that her and the Scoobies. Yeah, Dawn admitted they had messed up, they weren’t perfect, no one was. But even on that night, Dawn didn’t see Buffy lose her control as much as she had just now. Some one had hurt her sister and Dawn was going to make sure that they would never have the opportunity to do so again.

\--***---

 

Daniel leaned back in his chair, attempting to stop the spasms as his aching back protested the several hours he had spent bent over various book, researching to no avail the Slayer.

In the month since Carter had told Daniel the tragic story of her sister's short and very mysterious life, the name had been tugging at Daniel’s memory. Now, having returned from their latest mission after a downed U.A.V. that, in turn, had led to a very interesting encounter with a Goa’uld employed bounty hunter, Daniel finally had a free moment to try and satisfy his curiosity. Granted he really hoped that he was wrong and that he hadn't come across the name before. 

The archaeologist didn’t want to be the one that had to tell Sam that there had been an actual mention of the Slayer before, that maybe her sister hadn't been crazy. 

He really, really didn’t. 

“The Slayer, hmmmm….” His hand trailed along the bindings of an ancient book, the pages of leather had grown stiff with the passage of time, though the ink still held surprisingly well despite its age. 

Another forty minutes later, Daniel was still behind his desk, hunched over a book. Around him books, scrolls, papers, and in a couple of cases, tablets lay strewn on every space of his desk. 

All lay forgotten though, none of them had contained the information he sought. Leaning back in his chair he rubbed at his red rimmed eyes and picked up the last untouched book. Sighing he flipped the leather bound cover open and began to skim through the pages, a smell of decay wafting with each page turn, the ink was almost invisible from age. 

"Slayer, Slayer, Slay- uh-oh." 

Shit. 

He had been right, he had heard about the Slayer. There it was in all of it's faded glory, an ancient reference to the Slayer. Surprise at the discovery warring with both the elation of having found out a possible clue that validated the existence of a mythical being and also empathy with Sam. Telling her that there was references to something called the Slayer would be like losing her sister twice. 

It wasn’t easy losing a person you loved twice, the feeling was one that Daniel knew and would have spared Sam the knowledge of ever knowing. 

The blue eyes widened as he began to translate the runes before him, one finger of his left hand skimming along the page as he read the script while his right hand jotted down the notes as he translated the text. 

Another hour had passed before he sat back in his chair, thoughtfully regarding the book before him. He almost hadn’t pulled it; unlike most of his collection it didn't deal with gods, with Egypt, with mythology really at all, and instead it dealt with lore demon lore in particular. 

Pausing to unbury his phone from the mountain of books covering it, Daniel picked it up, his hand hovering over the key pad. Punching in the extension he heard the phone ring; one, two, come on and pick up the phone- 

“Hey Jack,” there was a pause as Daniel listened to O’Neill begin the usual litany that the Colonel ran through any time that Daniel interrupted his TV time.

“No, I’m not injured or sick…” frowning, Daniel rolled his eyes as the questions kept coming from the colonel. 

“No, I don’t need to go and see Janet… 

“No, I haven’t taken leave of my senses, at least, that I am aware of. Listen, Jack, I found…” 

Daniel sighed as he listened to his friend, his free hand moving to massage his temple, a futile attempt at easing the headache that was beginning to form. He began to shake his head in disagreement when he realized that Jack couldn’t see him. “No, I wasn’t aware that there was an A-Team marathon…

"Thank you, but, no, I don’t really want to come over and watch it…

“Listen, Jack…. 

"Jack!... 

"Could you please turn off the T.V.? Thanks. Jack, I found something and I think you should come and see it… 

"No, Jack, you should come here… 

"I know I don’t have a T.V. in my office, that’s why you should come here instead of me going to your room… 

"No, I can’t go into it over the phone; it would take to long…. 

"Teal’c? He's there?... 

"Oh, I see, I think, though I would argue about it being a staple of Earth life… 

"No, ask him to come with you, he should hear this as well… 

"Okay, see you in a few.” The phone receiver had barely settled down before Daniel snatched it back up and redialed the extension. 

“Jack?... 

"Yeah, one thing, don’t let Sam know you’re coming over… 

"She’s still in the lab?... 

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about the roshnah, well, just don’t tell her… 

"Jack?!?!... 

"No, I’ll tell you when you get here… 

"Jack, for God’s sake, if the curiosity is killing you then you should hang up the phone and hu-" 

Daniel found himself talking to the dial tone and sighed as he put the receiver back on its cradle. 

“Great, now all I have to do is wait.” He said to himself and looked back at the book, he was still for a moment before he flipped to the next page and continued, mumbling under his breath as he translated. 

The guilt he felt about sharing the information that Carter had confided in him was overwhelmed by the knowledge that when he told her, and he would, this wasn’t something that he would ever keep hidden from his friend, she would need her family around her, and for better or worse they were her family now.

~-~


End file.
